Plans for a sequel to **The Maze Runner **were announced at San Diego Comic-Con back in July, and director Wes Ball is already knee-deep in pre-production. Thank goodness for that, because after the success of the first film at the US and international box office this weekend, the sequel to The Maze Runner, currently called Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, has been dated for release in the States on September 18, 2015{
The first Maze Runner doesn’t open here in the UK until October 10, but 20th Century Fox is clearly bullish about its new franchise, despite it opening to a lower figure than novel adaptation champions Twilight or **The Hunger Games **with a solid but not spectacular $32 million.
The first film finds Dylan O’Brien as Thomas, who wakes up in a mysterious elevator transporting him into a massive maze filled with other boys. With no memory of exactly who he is, and plagued by strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as WICKD, he soon discovers that something is very, very wrong.
Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a means of escape. But with the obstacles ever changing and a surprise twist in the arrival of a young woman (Kaya Scodelario), it won’t be an easy task.
James Dashner's second book, The Scorch Trials, continues the story, though obviously we won't dip into that for fear of spoilers. There is a third book, however, called The Death Cure, which would presumably follow if the sequel does well. Let's just hope they don't feel obliged to cut it in half like every other teen franchise out there (honestly, people, just because Potter does it you shouldn't feel obliged).
Assuming Fox sticks with the same release plan as the first film, we can expect **Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ** to arrive here in early October next year.